Guava is a nutritious fruit that has perishable behavior during storage. We aimed to determine the influences of some edible coatings (namely, cactus pear stem (10%), moringa (10%), and henna leaf (3%) extracts incorporated with gum Arabic (10%)), on the guava fruits’ properties when stored under ambient and refrigeration temperatures for 7, 14, and 21 days. The results revealed that the coating with gum Arabic (10%) only, or combined with the natural plant extracts, exhibited a significant reduction in weight loss, decay, and rot ratio. Meanwhile, there were notable increases in marketability. Moreover, among all tested treatments, the application of gum Arabic (10%) + moringa extract (10%) was the superior treatment for most studied parameters, and exhibited for the highest values for maintaining firmness, total soluble solids, total sugars, and total antioxidant activity. Overall, it was suggested that coating guava with 10% gum Arabic combined with other plant extracts could maintain the postharvest storage quality of the cold-storage guava.

The synergistic effect of dipping in 55 °C for 5 min of hot water (HW) and 1% chitosan coating during the storage of mango at 13 ± 0.5 °C and 85%–90% relative humidity for 28 days was investigated. The combined treatment significantly suppressed the fruit decay percentage compared with both the single treatment and the control. In addition, the specific activities of key plant defense-related enzymes, including peroxidase (POD) and catalase (CAT), markedly increased. The increase occurred in the pulp of the fruits treated with the combined treatment compared to those treated with HW or chitosan alone. While the control fruits showed the lowest values, the combination of pre-storage HW treatment and chitosan coating maintained higher values of flesh hue angle (h°), vitamin C content, membrane stability index (MSI) percentage, as well as lower weight loss compared with the untreated mango fruits. The combined treatment and chitosan treatment alone delayed fruit ripening by keeping fruit firmness, lessening the continuous increase of total soluble solids (TSS), and slowing the decrease in titratable acidity (TA). The results showed that the combined application of HW treatment and chitosan coating can be used as an effective strategy to suppress postharvest decay and improve the quality of mango fruits.

Water scarcity and increasing salinity stress are significant challenges in the farming sector as they often exacerbate each other, as limited water availability can concentrate salts in the soil, further hindering plant growth. Lettuce, a crucial leafy vegetable with high nutritional value, is susceptible to water availability and quality. This study investigates the growth and development of lettuce plants under water scarcity and varying levels of salinity stress to identify effective strategies for reducing water consumption while maintaining or improving plant productivity. Field experiments were designed to simulate three drought levels (50, 75, and 100% of class A pan evaporation) and three salinity stress levels (control, 1500, and 3000 ppm NaCl), assessing their impact on lettuce’s morphological and biochemical parameters. The combination of reduced water supply and high salinity significantly hindered growth, underscoring the detrimental effects of simultaneous water deficit and salinity stress on plant development. Non-stressed treatment enhanced nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium contents and progressively decreased with the reduction in water supply from 100% to 50%. Interestingly, higher salinity levels increased total phenolic, flavonoid, and antioxidant activity, suggesting an adaptive stress response. Moreover, antioxidant activity, evaluated through DPPH and ABTS assays, peaked in plants irrigated with 75% ETo, whether under control or 1500 ppm salinity conditions. The Yield Stability Index was highest at 75% ETo (0.95), indicating robust stability under stress. The results indicated that lettuce could be cultivated with up to 75% of the water requirement without significantly impacting plant development or quality. Furthermore, the investigation demonstrated that lettuce could thrive when irrigated with water of moderate salinity (1500 ppm). These findings highlight the potential for reducing water quantities and saline water in lettuce production, offering practical solutions for sustainable farming in water-scarce regions.

Peaches are grown in many Egyptian orchards for local and global fresh market sales. The interior fruit tissue breakdown (IFTB), often resulting in decayed peaches, is a severe problem during marketing. Therefore, to minimize FTB of peaches, in this study, gum arabic (GA) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP) were mixed with different concentrations of salicylic acid (SA) (0, 1, and 2 mM) and were applied as edible coating to extend the shelf life of peach fruits. Mature peaches were selected and harvested when peaches reached total soluble solid content (SSC: 8.5%) and fruit firmness of about 47 N. Fruits were coated and stored at room temperature (26 ± 1 °C and air humidity 51 ± 1%) for 10 days during two seasons: 2020 and 2021. Fruit coated with GA/PVP-SA 2 mM showed a significant (p < 0.05) inhibition in degrading enzyme activities (CWDEs), such as lipoxygenase (LOX), cellulase (CEL), and pectinase (PT), compared to uncoated and coated fruits during the shelf-life period. Hence, cell wall compartments were maintained. Consequently, there was a reduction in browning symptoms in fruits by inhibiting polyphenol oxidase (PPO) and phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) activities. Thus, the fruit skin browning index showed almost no symptoms. The lipid peroxidation process and ionic permeability declined as well. The result suggests that, by applying GA/PVP-SA 2 mM as an edible coating, fruit tissue breakdown can be minimized, and the shelf life of peach can be extended up to 10 days without symptoms of tissue breakdown.

This study was carried out using 22 promising restorer lines of rice and their parental lines to study genetic variability and genetic advance for yield and yield-associated grain quality traits and floral traits. These genotypes are evaluated in a replicated trial using Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications at the Experimental Farm of Sakha Agricultural Research Station, Sakha, Kafr El-Sheikh, Egypt, during the seasons from 2012 to 2020. Analysis of variance revealed that highly significant variations were observed among the genotypes for all the studied characters. Both GCV% and PCV% were high for the number of spikelets per panicle, the number of filled grains per panicle, and panicle weight. The genetic advance in the percentage of mean was high for days to plant height, panicle length, number of spikelets per panicle, number of filled grains per panicle, panicle weight, grain yield per plant, anther length, anther breadth, duration of floret opening, and head rice percentage. Mean performance of the rice genotypes indicated that the genotypes NRL 59, NRL 55, NRL 62, NRL 63, NRL 66, and NRL 54-2 were promising for grain yield and associated desirable traits. Thus, some of these promising lines can be promoted as a new rice variety and could be used as a source for developing new hybrid combinations in hybrid rice breeding programs. The percentage of advantage over better parent and Giza 178 as the commercial variety was significant and there were highly significant desirable values among the genotypes for all the studied traits in the two years, indicating that the selection is effective in the genetic improvements for these traits.

Blossom-end rot (BER) is a physiological disorder caused by calcium deficiency, often paired with moisture stress and irregular traditional watering practices. To understand the biological mechanism affecting the incidence of BER, different tomato genotypes were cultivated in sandy soil and were traditionally irrigated. Nine tomato genotypes were investigated to assess their susceptibility to BER, and the incidence rate varied from 7.1% in “Voskhod” to 57.6% in “Majnat” genotypes. This study also comprehensively analyzed various physiological and biochemical parameters to elucidate their correlation with BER incidence in tomato plants. Our findings revealed a range of parameters positively correlated with BER incidence, including the relative water content of roots, the number of fruits per plant, vitamin C content, and potassium content. Parameters related to fruit quality, such as titratable acidity, peroxidase content, and firmness degree, also showed positive correlations with BER incidence. Conversely, parameters such as total yield per hectare, chlorophyll content, average plant height, and calcium content demonstrated strong negative correlations with BER incidence, suggesting potential protective effects against this disorder. This study highlights that genotypes with higher marketable yields, such as ‘Voskhod’ (65 tons/ha), showed lower BER incidence, underscoring the importance of selecting the appropriate genotype in improving yield and reducing blossom-end rot in tomato fields. Conversely, cultivars with high BER sensitivity, such as ‘Chelnok’ (26.3 tons/ha), require specially designed cultivation management to avoid production declines.